I bought my scroll saw at the same time I bought my Shopsmith but I have hardly ever used the scroll saw. Most all of its use has been by the kids and grandkids. This year I have been tasked and I'm not doing so well.
The blade seems to take a path of its own. Does it make a difference whether one follows the pattern in a clockwise direction as opposed to a counter clockwise direction. I can get way off line either way.
I have come to the conclusion that CCW is better, at least for me, but I'm interested in whether there is a technical difference or not.
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
I usally cut ccw but the one thing to remember is when you do you are using the sharpest cut of the blade because of the way the blades are manufactured. What kind of blades do you use? Years ago I switched to flying dutchman and it made a world of difference. Check out Mike website at http://www.mikesworkshop.com/
Give him a call he can answer far better than I.
Practise may do something towards improvement but I've got a long way to go. My wife says "That's Your Margin". Sure wish I had that sort of margin on my investments.
I'll put in an order for blades today. I'm going to buy some Olsen and some Flying Dutchmen. May buy bandsaw blades while I'm at it.
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
Dusty I will second Scotts idea, these flying dutchman blades are really something. I tried and tried with a scrollsaw i had, then talked to Mike and never looked back. treat your self. Cheers Doug
Dusty, I suggest you start learning with Precision Ground Teeth (PGT) blades. They cut faster and smoother than regular (Universal) blades and are much easier to control.
The problems you describe may not be solved by simply changing your brand of blades. They may be due to choosing the wrong type of blade. Are you scrollsawing thick stock with a blade that has standard tooth spacing (tpi)? These blades are best suited for stock that is thinner than the length of the blade stroke. If the wood is thicker than that, the sawdust cannot easily clear the gullets (spaces between the teeth). The sawdust becomes impacted in the gullets, prevents the teeth from cutting properly, you increase the feed to compensate, and the blade starts to wander. All this is solved by (1) using a skip-tooth blade and (2) resisting the urge to increase feed pressure when the saw seems to be cutting slowly.
Your posts seem to indicate you know something about flying. Remember when they taught you how to recover from a stall? When your brain is screaming for you to pull up, ignore your instincts and push down. Point the airplane at the ground to recover flying speed. The same is true on the scrollsaw (but without the dire consequences). Oftentimes when the blade seems to stop cutting, you need to resist the urge to feed the work faster. Instead, slow up. Give the blade time to clear the impacted sawdust from between the gullets.
By the way, PGT blades are available in the skip-tooth configuration. I believe that all three of the PGT blade sizes we offer are skip-tooth.
OK, Nick, you have me momentarily convinced that I have acted prematurely. I have held up my order for blades, at least until I have spent some time learning what I have and what I really need for the work I am doing.
The blades that I have are all part of a blanket order I placed when I bought my Shopsmith. The Shopsmith guy at the Texas State Fair (long ago) sort of helped me make out my order. I bought an assortment that I have never depleted.
I still have the following:
555366 - Reverse Skip Tooth, Universal #4, 36TPI - .041 thick
555265 - Reverse Skip Tooth 555264 - Universal #2, 20TPI - .029 width and .010 thick (wood, plastic and fibrous material 555263 - Universal #5, 12.5TPI - .038 width and .016 thick (wood, plastic and
fibrous material
555262 - Skip Tooth #9, 11.5TPI - .053 width and .018 thick (wood, plastic and
fibrous material
I was using 555264 when I wrote this post. I have no PGT blades. Guess I have to modify my order
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
OK, Nick, you have me momentarily convinced that I have acted prematurely. I have held up my order for blades, at least until I have spent some time learning what I have and what I really need for the work I am doing.
The blades that I have are all part of a blanket order I placed when I bought my Shopsmith. The Shopsmith guy at the Texas State Fair sort of helped me make out my order. I bought sort of an assortment that I have never depleted.
I have the following:
555366 - Reverse Skip Tooth, Universal #4, 36TPI - .041 thick
555265 - Reverse Skip Tooth 555264 - Universal #2, 20TPI - .029 width and .010 thick (wood, plastic and fibrous material 555263 - Universal #5, 12.5TPI - .038 width and .016 thick (wood, plastic and
fibrous material
555262 - Skip Tooth #9, 11.5TPI - .053 width and .018 thick (wood, plastic and
fibrous material
I was using 555264 when I wrote this post. I have no PGT blades. Guess I have to modify my order
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
Does it make a difference whether one follows the pattern in a clockwise direction as opposed to a counter clockwise direction.
My wife says "That's Your Margin". Sure wish I had that sort of margin on my investments.